StoryWeaver is an open source digital platform from Pratham Books on which stories can be read, downloaded, translated, versioned or printed. All the content on StoryWeaver is available under Creative Commons licenses to encourage collaboration and reuse.

Almost seven weeks ago, we asked YOU the question “Who is Ameena?” and now, we have an answer!

The contest to find an illustrator for What is Ameena Up To?, a cheery story written by Roopa Banerjee, gave StoryWeaver a great collection of merry, adventurous, whimsical, curious girls. But the Ameena-est of them all was the character drawn by Preetam Dhar.

Having received over 50 fabulous entries, the task of selecting a winner was not easy. At the final stage, it was down to four contenders -- Sangeeta Das, Preetam Dhar, Rahil Mohsin and Alankrita Amaya -- who had all created splendid work.

But something about Preetam’s Ameena struck Vinayak Varma, the contest judge - “Preetam's Ameena looks friendly and approachable, but also slightly strange and quirky -- this is exactly the right mix of traits for an appealing children's book character. His illustration is very well drawn, shows detail without being overdone, and demonstrates good command of colour and composition.”

Preetam’s understanding of the crux of the story and the character is clear from his vision note, where he says, “Aspirations bigger than her size and gleam of curiosity in her eyes -- that's Ameena for you. She's the girl who lives an ordinary life like you and me, made extraordinary by her imagination and inquisitiveness.”

We’ll all be able to see Preetam’s take on the story in a few months, because winning this contest has earned him a paid contract with Pratham Books!

Thank you to everyone who participated in the contest. Keep an eye out for how your delightful illustrations are being used by our community on StoryWeaver!

A few months back, Pratham Books joined hands with Pratham and SCERT, Delhi to bring a special workshop for the SCERT Mentor Teachers in Delhi. The idea was to bring the teachers together and help them discover the storyteller within them to make classroom teaching more interactive. We conducted an extensive three-day training with these teachers (read about it here) and exchanged interesting ideas on how stories can be used to make learning interesting and classrooms more joyful!

To encourage our dear teachers to try their hands on StoryWeaver and create some resources on their own, we held a story writing contest only for the workshop participant group of the SCERT Mentor Teachers in Delhi. The contest invited them to send entries for Aao Kahaani Bune, 2017 and for them to weave stories around certain learning objectives of their preferred subject or language!

We received an enthusiastic response on this contest and after our judges went through the entries, they selected two stories that they judged to be the best. A big thank you to all the participants for taking part, and being patient with us as the judges read through each of your wonderful stories.

The results for Aao Kahaani Bune 2017 are finally here!

Each winner received a printed copy of their winning story and a hamper of some of Pratham Books’ select titles. Congratulations to the winners and we hope you continue to spread the joy of reading and continue creating wonderful stories for everyone to read and enjoy .

This year, we have 2 winning finalists:

Neeru Puri for ‘Going To School’

Suman Rawat for ‘दर्पण से सिखाया सबक’

A big thank you to everyone who took part in the contest. Your stories are now on StoryWeaver to share with your friends, family and children across the world.